Thousands of stray cats are still out and about in Saxony-Anhalt. So that they don’t multiply uncontrollably, the country takes countermeasures.
Magdeburg (dpa/sa) – Since the start of the castration program for stray cats in September 2020, around 2,500 cats have been castrated by animal protection associations in Saxony-Anhalt. An employee of the state’s animal welfare officer said the state had provided around 270,000 euros for the interventions, labeling and registration. The somewhat more complicated castration of the approximately 1,600 female cats, at 100 euros, is twice as expensive as the intervention on the male specimens.
An estimated 100,000 free-ranging cats without an owner live in the country, explained the animal welfare expert. These are mostly former domestic cats that no longer have an owner due to a variety of reasons such as death, the owner moving away or running away and have often already fathered offspring. However, the estimate is difficult because free-living cats are shy animals that often only become active at dusk.
The expert emphasized that castration is only a means of combating the uncontrolled reproduction of such cats. All the efforts of the animal protection associations would be nullified if female stray animals that were not caught were mated with unneutered free-roaming cats again. Municipalities and districts would therefore have to work together with the owners to restrict the free run of reproductive cats and also introduce a labeling and registration obligation.
